Amazing Quality national oil seals
Big price cuts.Installing Fork Gaiters on a 1994 BMW K75 .ork gaiters
are a curious motorcycle accessory. Somehow, the accordion-shaped tubes
made a motorcycle look instantly old-fashioned to me. Compared to the
old Earle’s forks, which look like they could hold up the front end on a
tank, the spindly tubes on the later /2 model BMW’s of the late 60’s
look downright weird when covered in their collapsible rubber gaiters.Amazing Quality national oil seals Big price cuts.
About 30-odd years later, I became convinced that gaiters might be a good thing by a couple of friends who swore by them. The claim is that they protect the bare metal of the front fork tubes from damage by stones, bugs, dust and other debris. This, in turn, helps protect the all-important fork seals. When I saw a pair installed on a K75 identical in every other way to mine, I liked the look – the black gaiters covered the shiny chrome upper fork tubes and helped to blend in the blacked-out look of the rest of the charcoal black bike. So, there was now an overwhelming argument to install a set! Style and performance!
I had a bit of difficulty finding the correct set of gaiters. I was told (but haven’t confirmed) that BMW no longer carries them for a K75 or K100, so you have to find them in the aftermarket. I finally found a pair of unlabeled but substantial looking (and feeling) gaiters for about $30.00 the pair at Bob’s BMW. I was told there used to be special black clamps available to hold them on top and bottom, but they were no longer available, so Bob threw four black plastic cable ties in the bag and said they would work fine.Amazing Quality national oil seals Big price cuts.
I finally got up the energy one Saturday to do a front-end teardown and install them. I looked over the bike and pulled out the Clymer’s to study the situation – it looked like a fairly straightforward job to me. There are a few tricks though, and hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.
The job consists of four basic steps: you need to pull off the front brake calipers, disassemble the front fender assembly (which is a two-part affair on the ’94 K75), take off the lower fork brace, loosen the forks and pull them out. Although I had taken the front calipers off once to change the front tire, I never had the front forks all the way out, but it really isn’t too hard of a job at all.Amazing Quality national oil seals Big price cuts.
What You’ll Need
5, 6 and 8 mm Allen wrenches (I use a nice set of 3/8″ drive Craftsman metric Allen sockets);
3/8″ drive Ratchet wrench;
Torque wrench;
10 mm box wrench;
Pliers;
I needed a longer 3/8″ drive breaker bar to loosen the bigger (8 mm) Allen bolts;
WD-40 or equivalent;
Loctite (or equivalent) thread sealer.
Optional: black silicone RTV; hydraulic scissor jack.
Time
I worked slowly and methodically (which doesn’t necessarily help me get the job done any better!) and took several breaks and it took me about 3 hours total.
Reference
I have the Clymer “K-Series 1985-1995 Service, Repair and Maintenance” guide, Second edition, 3rd printing, April 1999. Published by Intertec Publishing, ISBN 0-89287-648-4. The chapters to refer to are:
Chapter 10, “Front Suspension and Steering”. Pages 354 – 357 cover removal and installation of the front wheel, including removal of the front brake calipers; and pages 375 – 378 cover removal and installation of the front forks;
Chapter 13, “Frame, Body and Frame Repainting” cover the removal of the front fender on pages 496 – 498.
The Job
I set a hydraulic scissor jack under the engine with a piece of 2×4 between the jack and the bottom of the engine and lifted the bike up just enough to take some weight off the front end. I feel that this stabilizes the bike a bit whenever I’m going to remove the front tire; I’m not sure I trust the center stand 100%. I find this makes it a bit easier to slide the front wheel out when working on the front end, but it probably isn’t really necessary. If you do this, make sure you don’t lift the bike off the center stand – just a tiny bit of lift to help ensure the bike won’t fall forward is all you need.
Also, before you start, you should measure the length of the forks; I measured mine from a point on the bottom of the lower fork bridge to the bottom of the fork. There is a nice, flat area on the very bottom of the fork on which you can lay a straightedge ruler to measure to. This measurement will be used as a check when you are reinstalling the forks to make sure they are the same length as when you took them out.Amazing Quality national oil seals Big price cuts.
About 30-odd years later, I became convinced that gaiters might be a good thing by a couple of friends who swore by them. The claim is that they protect the bare metal of the front fork tubes from damage by stones, bugs, dust and other debris. This, in turn, helps protect the all-important fork seals. When I saw a pair installed on a K75 identical in every other way to mine, I liked the look – the black gaiters covered the shiny chrome upper fork tubes and helped to blend in the blacked-out look of the rest of the charcoal black bike. So, there was now an overwhelming argument to install a set! Style and performance!
I had a bit of difficulty finding the correct set of gaiters. I was told (but haven’t confirmed) that BMW no longer carries them for a K75 or K100, so you have to find them in the aftermarket. I finally found a pair of unlabeled but substantial looking (and feeling) gaiters for about $30.00 the pair at Bob’s BMW. I was told there used to be special black clamps available to hold them on top and bottom, but they were no longer available, so Bob threw four black plastic cable ties in the bag and said they would work fine.Amazing Quality national oil seals Big price cuts.
I finally got up the energy one Saturday to do a front-end teardown and install them. I looked over the bike and pulled out the Clymer’s to study the situation – it looked like a fairly straightforward job to me. There are a few tricks though, and hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.
The job consists of four basic steps: you need to pull off the front brake calipers, disassemble the front fender assembly (which is a two-part affair on the ’94 K75), take off the lower fork brace, loosen the forks and pull them out. Although I had taken the front calipers off once to change the front tire, I never had the front forks all the way out, but it really isn’t too hard of a job at all.Amazing Quality national oil seals Big price cuts.
What You’ll Need
5, 6 and 8 mm Allen wrenches (I use a nice set of 3/8″ drive Craftsman metric Allen sockets);
3/8″ drive Ratchet wrench;
Torque wrench;
10 mm box wrench;
Pliers;
I needed a longer 3/8″ drive breaker bar to loosen the bigger (8 mm) Allen bolts;
WD-40 or equivalent;
Loctite (or equivalent) thread sealer.
Optional: black silicone RTV; hydraulic scissor jack.
Time
I worked slowly and methodically (which doesn’t necessarily help me get the job done any better!) and took several breaks and it took me about 3 hours total.
Reference
I have the Clymer “K-Series 1985-1995 Service, Repair and Maintenance” guide, Second edition, 3rd printing, April 1999. Published by Intertec Publishing, ISBN 0-89287-648-4. The chapters to refer to are:
Chapter 10, “Front Suspension and Steering”. Pages 354 – 357 cover removal and installation of the front wheel, including removal of the front brake calipers; and pages 375 – 378 cover removal and installation of the front forks;
Chapter 13, “Frame, Body and Frame Repainting” cover the removal of the front fender on pages 496 – 498.
The Job
I set a hydraulic scissor jack under the engine with a piece of 2×4 between the jack and the bottom of the engine and lifted the bike up just enough to take some weight off the front end. I feel that this stabilizes the bike a bit whenever I’m going to remove the front tire; I’m not sure I trust the center stand 100%. I find this makes it a bit easier to slide the front wheel out when working on the front end, but it probably isn’t really necessary. If you do this, make sure you don’t lift the bike off the center stand – just a tiny bit of lift to help ensure the bike won’t fall forward is all you need.
Also, before you start, you should measure the length of the forks; I measured mine from a point on the bottom of the lower fork bridge to the bottom of the fork. There is a nice, flat area on the very bottom of the fork on which you can lay a straightedge ruler to measure to. This measurement will be used as a check when you are reinstalling the forks to make sure they are the same length as when you took them out.Amazing Quality national oil seals Big price cuts.
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